It is funny in a sad way how systems of theology (especially erroneous ones) effect the way we live and minister to others.
I remember listening to Christian radio maybe 5-6 years ago and hearing “those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed”. I won’t saturate you with the scriptures that were used to defend such a case. But to put it frankly they are all Old Covenant texts. I remember hearing people cheer as Israel would strike their enemies (my good brother Daniel Cosby has a good post on facebook about that). So they would applaud the death of those wicked “Palestinians”.
I really didn’t know how to take that. I thought it wrong to cheer the death of an enemy given the fact that Jesus says “love your enemies” and Paul says “if your enemy is thirsty bring him something to drink”. I would wonder how we would applaud the death of someone who did not know Jesus thus they would spend an eternity away from God. I thought that we should mourn and tear our clothes at such an event, but many were endorsing and applauding all in the name of American Christians responsibility to “bless Israel”.
So I want to address a theological fallacy. That fallacy is the one that states Israel is God’s people! Now to be biblically faithful Israel is God’s chosen people, the problem is who is the “True” Israel. If you spend anytime in Romans or Galatians or Ephesians or even Peter that questioned is answered quite easily. The problem is when we apply the broken interpretive method of reading the New Testament through the lens of the Old. That is similar to a group of individuals who celebrate the first half of a football game when they were up 3 points at half but lost by 30!
If you want to faithfully handle your bible, the first thing you want to do is begin with the fulfillment of God’s plan. Paul says God gave Him the full revelation to that which was a mystery hidden from the writers of the Old Testament. They see shadows and types, however, the New Testament writers see the full picture. They don’t talk about a Messiah. John says “we touched Him”. Peter says the prophets “longed” and “speculated” on what God was revealing to them, however, they walked with Jesus and received the full revelation of God’s eternal plan of redemption.
So with that said, there is only ONE people of God. Paul says in Ephesians “that two people are made one new man”. The one new man is the Church or the true Israel of God in Christ! That leads to the point of this blog. The church is not to involve herself with the ethnocentric/nationalistic/self preserving conflict in the middle east, other than to pray for peace and to find a way to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ.
To applaud Israel’s method of controlling a land (that has been fulfilled in Christ) is to employ, as Boyd would say, the kingdom of man! As believers we don’t get people groups to comply by exercising power over, but power under. I remember when Dr. Black told me “I pray for the opportunity to wash Bin Laden’s feet“.
Peace in the Gaza Strip will not be accomplished with the sword. As Jesus says “he who lives by the sword will die by the sword”. Jesus did not gather a group of man to bring a militia against Rome! Jesus was not concerned with an earthly parcel of land, wrongly defined today as the “promised land”. No! Jesus’ kingdom was not and is not of this world and that means neither is ours. The kingdom we are servants of is the kingdom where our King currently reigns and will reign until God the Father makes all of His enemies His footstool. Those enemies aren’t Palestinians friend. Those enemies are those who did not do will of the Father.
I want to let you know I am not “anti-Semitic”. I am pro-Christ! And Christ’s heart is for the whole world and the remnant that will believe is who the bible calls Israel or as Paul says in Romans 2 “a true Jew”. I love Palestinians as much as I love the Jewish people. I love Iraqis as much as I love Americans who they are fighting with.
We should be alarmed when a minister of the Gospel spews hate speech from his mouth in the name of nationalism. The center of the Gospel is love displayed by a “joy” (as Hebrews says) to endure Calvary. Believe it or not, Jesus does not need the land we have defined as Israel today. Jesus is not coming to set up an earthly kingdom. Jesus is already reigning as the Son of David and when He returns He will return for His bride that He has made pure. Our job is prepare others for the King.
I close with this. Our hearts should be broken by the constant warfare and the loss of life that plagues this never ending conflict. We should be quick to rebuke anyone who applauds such demonic nationalism, especially if they name the name of Christ. We have the only answer to the problem. That answer is Jesus of whom both those of Israel and Palestine reject. As bullets fly in this earthly realm we are to move to the Spiritual. Lets beg our Lord of peace and reconciliation during these turbulent times. Both parties are equally wicked, both are fighting for a parcel of land that will be leveled at the second coming of our Lord. Neither are endorsed by God. Lets pray that the Gospel would infiltrate their hearts and they would drop the national ties and see each others as brothers and sisters, which only can be done by and through the Spirit!
Lionel.
I am so pleased to see, at least some, followers of Christ, who know their Bibles on this issue, apart from the deliberate rabbit’s trail of confusion which has marked Christendom (and governments) for years.
Lionel,
I’m also glad for the company. I have spoken similarly for many years, but evangelicals in this country quickly disassociate themselves from you.
Thanks for helping to fill in more of the pieces that have been missing in so many Christians understanding towards what Israel is all about. It is true that it begins with answering the question, who is Israel?
As I’ve been reflecting on this lately, I’ve been brought back to those passages where Jesus told the Pharisees to their face that they were not real descendants of Abraham, that they were in fact not real Jews! No wonder they hated him… He calmly stood before them and proclaimed that without Him, everything they based their whole identity on was worthless, their whole Jewish heritage was for nothing. He did not for a second try to be the kind of messiah they had been longing for, one who free them from the oppression of the Romans. Amazing that what we are looking at in terms of what is happening today over there is not that different. We still see a Jewish people who are convinced that what they need is a secure, Jewish homeland. And we still see Jesus offering to them, and to all of us, something far greater….
The modern state of Israel is not the fulfillment of any biblical prophecy to restore God’s nation… any such notion is just silly.
That being said, I hope the people of Israel can be freed from these terrible rocket attacks (50 attacks at least just today and 7,000 rocket attacks over the past 7 years).
A good subject to search is British Israelism
“The Union Jack” by Anonymous (Helen Peters) is an interesting read on the subject.
Here is an excerpt:
“The hydra of “Fundamental Christianity” is built upon a hybrid and mongrel faith. It is the epitome of blasphemous pretension and its deception has been accomplished by its juxtaposition (use) of Christian symbols and a parallelism of Bible language.
It is a desecrating horror with a seductive appeal based on prophecy. It is the spirit of world-wide carnage which has reached crescendo proportions. It appropriates Christ’s kingdom of salvation to a world political state under the veil of Biblical language and expressions. It is power politics operating to control humanity with a world government religion. It is Zionism.
Americans must cast off the straight jacket of Communism versus “Christianity” in order to escape entrapment of this action-counteraction power play that means certain annihilation.
“Fundamental Christianity, ” or as some would have it Judeo-Christianity, is a multifarious evil characterized, as we shall show, by many names and fronts. Our understanding of it for its true meaning and purpose will depend upon our faith — that is, whether or not we believe the kingdom of God is spiritual and not of this world, or if it is flesh and blood and is of this world. Regardless of what pretense or name “Fundamental Christianity” may assume, its spirit is millennial Zionism which says that God’s kingdom shall come upon the earth. And no matter its proclamations of salvation in Christ, it is striving for a material and physical world state and imputing it as God’s kingdom on earth
We need not look for consistency in the hypocrisy of “Fundamental Christianity” for, as we have stated, it is a hydra with many heads and as one is exposed it sprouts two more in its place. It appears to support Americanism but it educates for world government. It appears to be pro-jew but it is “anti-semitic” for it discriminates against those in Judaism, misleading them to political Zionism instead of the grace of Christ.
It preaches peace on earth but it prophecies “wars and rumors of wars” and ascribes chaos and confusion to God and His Divine Revelation. It predicts a paradise earth to come but promotes, with its erroneous prophecies, famine and world calamity. Where then is the consistency in this Phariseeic Christianity? It is its spirit of an earthly kingdom. “Fundamental Christianity” is a supposition of truth and a faked allegiance to Jesus Christ. “
dear lionel,
you say “That answer is Jesus of whom both those of Israel and Palestine reject”, who told you palestanians reject Jesus, well moslims beleive in, respect, and love all prophets including Jesus, this part of our faith.
and you say”Both parties are equally wicked, both are fighting for a parcel of land that will be leveled at the second coming of our Lord”, you talk about Jesus, well let me tell you about Jesus, Jesus would never make a killer and a victim equals, Israel has a major power, the world’s support, while palestianians have missiles that are home made.. Israeli’s are living in the land they violently and oppressively took from palestanians, and palestanians have the right to get back their land. if someone took your house without any right, will you set back without doing nothing or you will jump to take back your rights, by law at first, but if there’s no law, then you will think about other tricks..
if you want to know Isreali’s, you can see an example of what they have done to the palestanians now happening in Gaza, they are killed now over 660 people, many are children and women, so it’s easy for you to say: let us live like brothers and sisters. while Hamas missiles Israeli’s are terrified from, have killed 4 isreali’s, and one is a soldier..
and a last question to you, how did you black people gain your liberty from the white people?
thank you
LIONEL
Thanks for helping to clarify my thought on who the real ingrafted branches are.The true Israel of today are the believers in Jesus Christ.
Hello Rana,
I think you are correct that Jesus would not equate the victim and the killer. He would actually have much to say to the killer/oppressor as our bible clealry says.
You ask about Africans in America. We actually laid down our swords. We did not revolt in a violent way. If you look at the leaders who spearheaded our emacipation (not the whites but the blacks) we attempted to use our legislation. If you look at the civil rights movement it was completely peaceful.
I can’t say I understand much of what goes on there, though I can say I understand when a people are oppressed by those with bigger guns and governments on their side!
I would also say that Jesus says this “if a man sues you for your coat give him your undergarment”. Jesus also says “give to those who ask” and “if someone slaps you on the cheek, give him the other”. I would hope that I would trust my Sovereign master to free me from the hands of the oppressors. Thus I will do my best to follow His method of getting others to live uprightly and for us that is the Cross.
Finally I am praying for your kinsmen. I see that you are a native which means you may have loved ones in this area. My heart goes out to you and your kinsmen and my heart goes our to Israel and their kinsmen. I hope to dialouge more with you.
Hmmmmmm. To bless the nation of Isreal, or not to. Decisions, decisions.
All these fancy theological arguments that I am just not smart enough to refute.
BUT, I am smart enough to use my own head and check things out. Good old Google is our best friend.
Seems Someone of higher Power doesn’t care what you think. Why? Because every time, and I mean EVERY SINGLE TIME without exception that this nation of America has done something to curse Israel, within 24 hours, like CLOCKWORK, there followed a horrible natural disaster in this land. This has gone on without exception for years.
And if you like, you can Google the charts. It’s been so dependable, that you can set your watch by it.
Oh, but maybe it’s just a coincidence.
Sure. And I’m the king of Siam.
Again, every time we, as a nation, refused to take Israels side, we were hit with COSTLY, deadly, disaster, PROMPTLY.
Now who sits on the throne?
But, be that as it may, I am going to give this a fair chance and find out for myself. I’ll find out once and for all if blessing is Israel results in a blessing in my own life.
As I was praying fervently last night, I asked the Lord for a way out of this load of personal debt that is on my shoulders.
When I walked into work this morning, amazingly, someone handed me a magazine that was about Israel and how individuals can bless them. There was a testimony of a pastor who’s church was several million dollars in debt, but he decided to begin blessing Israel, and within a short time, all their debts were payed off supernaturally. They are totally in the clear now, and prospering and flourishing. This pastor will swear that the blessing and cursing promise is for today, and I don’t think your theological arguments are going to sway him.
So anyway, I am an open minded individual, so I am going to put it to the test. I am going to bless Israel with my financial support (the best I can, since I have no money to speak of.) and see what happens to my own debt burden. Remember, I’m an average guy, working one job, only working 4 days a week because of the recession, and I am struggling to keep my lights and heat on, let alone pay off my mortgage and other debts. Plus I have five mouths to feed.
I have tried for years to get out from the burden of debt, and failed every time. I am chained to it, and when I try to free myself, invariably, my face gets pushed down in the mud. The debt is CRUSHING.
But I’m going to do this as I feel the Spirit leading me, and I will report back here and tell you whether I was blessed or cursed for supporting the nation of Israel..
It’s pretty simple. If I end up debt free, you all are wrong, and need to change your theology. If my debts still linger, then I will have to concede and change mine.
Fair enough?
Unless you guys are chicken…
“”"Those enemies aren’t Palestinians friend. Those enemies are those who did not do will of the Father.”"”"
Palestinians have never done the will of god..
As for the jewish people Jesus promised he would restore the kingdom to them..He never ever promised that to palestinians or other allah worshippers…These being the true unbeleivers was promised delusion and damnation…..
You have to be blind stupid and uninformed to not know muslims have been waging war against Israel and christians for 1400 years..and blamed their victims as they go..
As for you personally Jesus said the entire world would be deceived all but the elect of Christ.. you better repent and be quick about it.. it is almost fnished..
Islam is spawned of satan and is a lie to lead people away from Jesus who contrary to your belief is THE ONLY WAY BACK TO GOD and his name is not allah…